Previews

Red Dead Revolver

He's red, not dead, and is going to be revolving in your PS2 or Xbox in a few weeks. Here's our final preview of Red Dead Revolver.

Spiffy:

Solid gunplay; Xbox extras; lovely Western setting and music.

Iffy:

Networking support would be nice.

I knew something odd was afoot when the tumbleweeds started blowing by my cube. Cautiously peeking around the corner, I almost lost my head as a mad herd of buffalo stampeded past. When the dust finally cleared, I looked up to see a lone figure silhouetted against the office's soul-sucking flourescent lights. A gold star gleamed on his lapel, saying simply "Rockstar." Wordlessly, he beckoned me to follow. To the demo room we went, and there, handing me the grotesquely large original-style Xbox controller, he booted up the latest build of Red Dead Revolver.

"who --?" I started.

An abrupt hand motion cut me off. "Just play." So I did, and this is what I saw.

Revolving Tour

Good god, is that guy ugly.

Red Dead Revolver is around 95% percent complete now, and the developers are just applying the finishing touches. To get a taste of Red Dead's overall flow, I started a new single-player game. The first chapter was a prologue, and showed the brutal slaying of Red's family after bandits discovered that his father had struck gold. After a bit of training, I got to control Red and fight off the maruading bandits. It was too late to save his family, of course.

After the fight ended and the tears began, the chapter summary screen came up, reporting on my hit percentage, damage taken, and overall grade. The game has an extensive variety of unlockables, and one way to unlock them is through skillful performence in each chapter -- a rating of "good" gets one specific item unlocked, while "excellent" gets two. It'll take multiple playthroughs in various difficulties to unlock everything. Between chapters there's also a helpful general store, wherein you can buy new weapons and stat-boosting items, as well as unlock various bonuses.

When chapter two began our hero was fully grown, and ready to kick ass in his own grim bounty hunter sort of way. You can read our earlier preview for the basics on the gameplay, so I'll just mention what's new in this near-final version. Most notable is the Xbox version's framerate: It's a fairly smooth 60hz, as opposed to 30hz on PS2. The textures are also more detailed, and the final music is now in place, and sounding excellent. Red Dead's really come together over the last month, and is now beginning to feel like a final game.

Multiple Marshal Mayhem

Keep a low profile: Duck!

To be honest, I wasn't expecting much from the multiplayer, and was surprised at how good it looked. We played with three players (video editor Ryan, the stranger, and myself) and an AI bot, and the framerate never wavered from an uber-solid 60. Three modes were available: Sundown (timed deathmatch), High Noon (dueling), and Bounty Hunter (a race for cash).

The action is enhanced via a unique card system. Killing a player makes a playing card appear, and these can be collected to form poker hands. Various combinations can grant one of 50+ power-ups, such as acid shots, piercing bullets, exploding arrows, self-immoliation (run into others for some fun with this one), dynamite, and many more. I happened to get the dynamite once, and had way too much fun sending my opponent sprawling into the air. Until I got a little too close to one of my own explosions, anyway. The card system may be a little too random for some, but it certainly adds an unpredictable bit of fun to normal deathmatching.

While there are only seven characters (each with unique traits and special attacks) and a few arenas available to start, playing through single player can unleash the full complement of 47 playable gunslingers and 20 multiplayer levels. Red Dead Revolver's multiplayer seems to have some serious legs ... it's just too bad it couldn't have implemented system link or online play.

Epilogue

The third round of multiplayer ended, and Ryan once again emerged victorious. I don't know how, but he just owned everyone, never having played the game before. The stranger from Rockstar didn't seem amused. Throwing down his controller, he jabbed at the Xbox, ejecting the disc.

"April 27th," he snarled, and stormed out the door. We heard a galloping of hooves recede into the distance, and then there was silence. Well, except for Ryan's creepy man-boy giggling.